Demons of Remnant
by Foobar357
Summary: This is the story of team SHDW. A team of demons and assassins that came to Beacon for one reason. To kill Grimm, or at least those who would try to control them. A fate twisted with the original cast of RWBY, this spin off doesn't tread far from the original story in the beginning and gives to the unseen story playing in the background throughout the anime.
1. prologue

**Remnants SHDW**

Prologue

"So, do you have any merry tales you wish to share?" a gruff man asked as he took another swig of his tankard that was down to its last drop.

"Well," I said eyeing him, "I'm not sure if they'll be any good compared to some of the things I've heard tonight."

"Nonsense!" interrupted the man, "Every tale is welcome here! So, you do have one, right?"

"Sure, I got a few." I sighed . Images flashed through my mind. People lying dead on the ground, their hands covering their empty eye sockets. A man's insides were torn out though his chest cavity. A woman was being devoured by the grimm. Her children staring in horror as a hunter cut down the grimm that were gathering forr the meal. I began to lose myself in these images...or memories as they were really known. A voice began pulling me out of the lull I had found myself in.

"Well, don't keep us waiting, get on with it! Oh, and Michael, get this man a beer would you?" The man placed down a wad of money on the counter. "It's on me, I insist."

"I'm sorry.. Err…"

"Zezil. My name is Zezil."

"Mr. Zezil. I can't drink while on the job." I couldn't meet his eyes, not after he'd been so kind as to offer me a drink.

"Arrrg what are you? A Hunter? Come on, have a cold one." the man insisted as the bartender brought two beers over.

"You could say that I'm a hunter, and I can't drink while on the job." I forced myself to meet his eyes in an effort to show just how assertive I was being.

"Well fine, it just means more for me." The man laughed as he down the first bear in an instant. "Now why don't you tell me this tale of yours before I sober up."

Forcing a half smile, I could see that the man was growing impatient, and when a drunk person grows impatient, they tend to lose control. Normally this would be no problem, but I didn't want to kill the man and everyone else in the room. Especially because there was a particular man in the corner with black hair and a gruffy face who looked to be quite strong. Also because I knew for a fact that the man was a well known hunter named, "Qrow".

"Well, I don't want to be rude. So first, let me ask you. What do you know about the power of grimm? Are you one that believes it's derived from the hatred in people's hearts or the manifest form of the darkness itself? Either way it doesn't really matter, all the matters is whether or not you believe what I am about to tell you."

"There were once two people in the world known as the Twin Demons. They were unbelievably strong, and their ambitions were high. They spent their days fighting the grimm, and their night's running from humanity. They were like a coin, complete opposites of each other, yet they were the same."

"They traveled the world together making it a safer place bit by bit. However, they had a dark secret, one that could never be revealed lest they be destroyed by the very people they were trying to protect. Still, even with the threat of imminent destruction constantly following them, they pressed forward."

"One day they met hunters who fought them without end. At first it was clear who had the upper hand, but at time continued on, the Twins became more and more ragged until finally one of the brothers faced destruction. In an attempt to save his brother's life, the eldest brother unleashed his true power, and in doing so, revealed their secret."

"The Eldest brother had saved his younger brother, but made it so that they would forever be hunted down for what they truly were. A byproduct of human curiosity. A type of creature that had the physique and emotional functions of a human, but also had the physical properties of the Grimm. They could blend in with a crowd easily to the untrained eye."

"And so the brothers ran for their lives, fighting and killing any hunter who dared get in their way. They could never again show their face to the world, and could never again protect the very thing that they loved." I paused to look around the tavern. It was the first time I actually studied the place. It was sort of small with no more than six people in it including me and my brother. The others in the room weren't of any concern, but my attention kept wandering back to a frantic woman.

"Well, go one, what happened to them?" asked Zezil as he listened, completely enthralled in the story,

"Well, as the story goes, the Twins soon found a place where they could harness and perfect their power. A place where they could train and become even stronger, so strong, that they could easily defeat any hunter who would try and hurt them." I kept staring at the woman wondering why she looked so familiar. After a couple of seconds she made eye contact and began to scream. Suddenly it clicked. She jumped up with her briefcase in hand and began to make a break for the door, but before she could reach for the door handle my brother stopped her with his knife to her throat.

"Stay right where you are." Those words set the world into chaos. The woman and my brother held still, but Qrow jumped into the fray with lightning speed. He drew his sword and sent into its scythe form with a flick of his wrist, having the blade rest perfectly on my brother's neck. The bartender, Michael, drew his quad-barreled shotgun and had it aimed at me without a single second to spare. The man sitting just three seats down from Zezil screamed and vaulted to cower behind the bar. And Zezil, well calling him mad would be an understatement. With his face flushed red, he stood up and smashed the bar into pieces sending redwood splinters everywhere.

"Finish the damn story!" he bellowed as he turned around. Fully upright now, the man stood at a towering 7'4" and weighed what looked to be a hefty 800lbs. With a body of a strong man, he looked like he had spent his life fighting beowolves in the wilderness, where he had never shaved or gotten a haircut.

"Well, you see." I started while processing the scenario. "After the brothers came back, everyone who knew of their existence was eradicated, as to keep their lives a secret. Those who searched for them were never seen or heard from again. Finally, with the time that has passed, it is presumed that they either died or are living amongst us, just waiting for their chance to hold all of humanity's fate in their hands once more."

Zezil let out a grunt, "That was a good tale, true or not. But now that my thirst has been quenched, I feel the need to relieve some pent up aggression." he grinned, I realized that he was the reason for Qrow being here. The man known as the highwayman. Zezil the butcher.

Looking at the man, the thought crossed my mind that I could kill him and save him from a fate worse than death. However, if Qrow's mission was to capture him and take him to The Prison, I didn't want to stop him. "Well, I think that I've had my fun for tonight. Dante, when I give the sign, you know what to do."

In a split second I moved, slapping Qrow's weapon out of his hands and rolling to the right. Zezil's punch missed me by a foot and put a new window in the wall. With only a split second to spare Dante closed the distance between him and Zezil and spartan kicked him into the bar, crushing both the bartender and the cowering man. With only four people left, the room grew quiet as Zezil began to "resurrect" from the dead.

I turned to see the woman close the door behind her. "Dante go!" I yelled while turning to face the rest. "I'll handle this, you get the woman." The door closed behind me and I began to survey the scene. Qrow was standing over by a coffe table and Zezil was back on his feet completely lost in his rage. "And I was hoping that I wouldn't have to kill you." I said drawing my staff from my back.

"Easy kid, I got this one." Qrow stood getting back into his fighting stance, tensing up as if he were a spring ready to uncoil.

Zezil charged, but Qrow was fast and strong. Within a single movement Qrow knocked Zezil's feet out from underneath him and sent him flying into the wall. "Looks like you're not as tough as you look." Zezil was back on his feet in an instant, rushing him with his head down, determined not to be deterred from his course.

While the two of them were duking it out I quickly snuck out the door and tracked down my brother. After twenty minutes had passed I caught up to him only to find him sitting on a boulder. "Where's she at?" I said strolling to his side.

"She's gone. That woman in red with the golden glowing eyes came and took her." He sounded as if he was going to go back to the tavern and kill Qrow and Zezil just to satisfy his hatred.

"Well, that woman has been a thorn in our side for some time hasn't she? I guess it looks like we'll have to go pay some old friends a visit, now won't we?"

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **Hey guys hope you liked the prologue of the story. If you enjoyed and want to help us make the story better then please leave a review letting us know what we need to work on.**


	2. chapter 1 (A Dance With Death)

Chapter 1

Chapter 1 (A dance with death)

POV (Dante)

"That's the plan. I'll go in, talk to Junior, then get the Ceo to come outside with me. Then you take him out and it'll all be over and we can ask Junior if we can get what we wanted."

The alleyway was dark, too dark for any normal person to see. It probably wasn't this dark normally, but I liked it this way. Using my powers to stay hidden is just one of its perks. And the fact that shadows were like being in broad daylight to me made it even better.

Also, you'd think that having a conversation in this kind of darkness would be a problem, but my brother is technically blind. He can't see past a certain point, but he has thermal vision to help him. So our strategy of him being up in front and me in the back is actually fairly good.

"I got the plan."I said.

"Listen Dante. All that matters in this mission is getting Junior and taking out that ass of a man." I could hear a little annoyance in his voice, but it didn't matter. He almost always sounded a little annoyed, and normally it wasn't even me. Normally it was because he was missing out on some of the action or the food he ate was actually not as good as he first thought it was.

"Alright alright. Don't get so upset. Anyway, it's about time for the club to start up. I'll head up to the rooftop right now." I stood up in hopes to get things rolling. I hated waiting, but I know my brother hated it more.

"We have a few hours before we commence the mission. Just make sure you remember our bet. If you can take him out only using one bullet I'll pay for both our dinners." he stood up. Standing at 5'11" and being toned to perfection, you wouldn't think that he weighed only 100lbs. His red BDU fit him as if it was perfectly tailored to him, his boots were in need of a good cleaning, his gloves were getting old, and the glow from the eyes of his dual canister gas mask was still as scary as ever.

"Hey, don't forget to change. We don't need people tracking us down, especially not with all the rumors going around lately." He's right, I was still in my civilian garb. A jacket with metal pads on the joints for full movement while giving the max protection. A pair of combat boots with a metal toe and heel. And a belt/bandolier slung across my right shoulder to my left hip. It contained my sword Oblivion and my dagger Oathkeeper along with some equipment and ammunition.

"I'll be ready when the time comes," the thought of killing no longer bothered me, but the thought of constantly being hunted down was one I didn't like.

"Alright," I'll see you in a bit. Oh, and Dante, remember to use our Code names." He gave me a wink and strolled out of the alleyway. "I'm going to go change now!" he called back. His "civilian clothes" as we called them consisted of the following: A sleeveless white trenchcoat, a deep blue sleeveless form fitting shirt, a pair of sky blue multicam cargo pants, black combat boots, and a special bandana with the name MARIA carefully stitched into it.

"I hate you so much sometimes," I couldn't help but smile as the darkness engulfed me.

By the time the club had started up I had changed into my black coat with a lot of pockets and black cargo pants. I had changed my bandolier into the belt and had it snug on my body. And then I had pulled out my shemagh and wrapped it around my head, creating a makeshift hood to zero out any chance of facial recognition.

I looked around to see if anyone or anything could compromise the mission. The rooftops were clear, the balconies were clear, and most importantly the streets were clear.

I scanned my surroundings one last time, taking note of anything that could make noise. The only thing of concern was the mirror leaning on the ball behind me. "This might just blow my cover," I picked it up and took one last look at myself. To ordinary people I might just look like a delinquent off the street, but the gasmask I was wearing could put shivers down anyone's spine. With the unforgettable skull placed on the front and tubes coming out of the dual canister holes, it looked like it had come right out of a post apocalyptic movie.

I placed the mirror flat on the ground and turned my attention back to the mission. I pulled my straight edged katana, Oblivion, out from its sheath and flicked it into its second form, a highly customizable auto rifle. I snapped on the bipod from a pouch on my hip and sighted in a scope.

I started checking the faces of people trickling in and out of the club. A few minutes had passed before I heard the radio. It sizzled at first, but finally connected with a click.

"Pride, it's taken you a while, do you have visual on the target or are you eyeing something else?" A cool breeze blew through the streets and over the rooftops, the smell of burning dust lightly tinted the air. I lifted my head a little trying to catch more of the sent. "Hey, I got a whiff of dust in the air, it's probably nothing, but be ready in case we need to bail." My hood tugged as the last gust of wind blew by.

"Sorry Wrath, just caught a glimpse of the Malachites, as for the target, he's still MIA. Also, Junior is here, I saw him walking around. Could you relay their positions to me?" I peered through my scope and easily picked out the Malachites, they were next to Junior over by the bar. I started scanning the crowd for anyone else who could potentially jeopardize the mission.

"Pride, I found the target." The CEO of Jennamite was surrounded by his underlings. A man in a large overcoat and two others with visible bulged in their coat pockets. I continued to scan the room and found nothing. I looked back over to Junior to find a newcomer. He wore a white suite with black pants and a black bowler that was laced with a red ribbon. I recognized him immediately as a ruthless man who had hired us in the past. "The target is on the second level near the right corner of the VIP bar. He has three henchmen with him and they're all packing heat."

"Got it, did you find the Malachites?" I saw him make his way toward the outer rim of the dance floor. Remaining in the crowd so that he'd be unseen, but just close enough to make a hit and run.

"I did, they're by Junior at the lower bar, but don't approach." I looked back to Junior to see that the Malachites were still with him. "Listen, Junior is having a talk with Torchwick right now, and we all know how he can be. It's better to just let him finish his business and leave." A chill ran up my spine as a rumbling came into earshot. "Hey, something's nearby, might cause trouble, might not. Don't know yet, but I have a bad feeling about it."

"Alright, do we need to speed up the mission?" The rumbling began to grow faintly lowder.

"For the most part I think we're good, just don't do anything stupid." I shifted around, finding a comfortable sniping position and switching oblivion to semi auto. "I'm ready for when things go down."

"First, hopefully you won't be needed for when things go down, but it's nice to know you'll be ready. Second, define stupid."

A smile crept over my face, "You."

POV Change(Seraph)

The dance floor spoke to you, the whispers of the blasting music sang a song that just piqued your interest. The lights flashed at the just right time to keep the sanity at a controllable level. The smell of alcohol made the room feel as though it was okay to drink here, no one was going to judge if you got drunk. And lastly, the crowd looked inviting, softly speaking words of encouragement. "Join us. It's okay to have fun once in awhile. Come on, treat yourself. You deserve this. We're all friends here, so go ahead, have fun." It's a good thing I'm "blind" and have sensitive hearing or I might have given into those words.

The people in the crowd seemed to blur and mesh with each other. Those who entered with a group were mingling with others just earshot of each others. The people who had trickled in were quickly getting acquainted with groups of people, enjoying the company and dancing the night away, completely unaware that this place was a trap. The music was interlaced with certain chords and pitches that made you unconsciously want to stay here, and when you had to leave, the music would stay in our head, prompting you to come back. The alcohol was specially brewed or laced with mixtures that could only be found here, no other drink would taste the exact same unless you came here. The lights were timed with the music creating a sort of underlying sense of safety. And finally, the people, most of the people here were regulars. They knew how it was, they knew the vibe, they helped create the wanted mood. Some were new, but would probably be coming back soon, and then there were the insurgents. Those who worked here and got paid to create a warm and inviting feel. They usually invited a friend, only to get them hooked and have them bring their own friends. Yes, this place was a meticulously made trap, capable of becoming the end of the line for some, but not me and Dante. We couldn't afford to let it end here.

I edged closer to the end of the crowd. Sweat trickled down my back as the crowd grew larger. "Man I freaking hate crowds."

"What?" The radio was hard to hear over the crowd.

"Nothing, just getting a little uneasy with all of these people here." I looked around, found a pocket of space in the crowd, and began walking over to it. "Shit, wait. I can't let that get to me." I started backing up but bumped into a girl, we both apologized and went back to ignoring each other's existence.

"Look, it's quite simple. I rent your men from you, go on this heist, then I pay you what i promised. Oh and don't worry, I am a businessman after all, so just for goodwill I'll even leave a downpayment. Here take this, it's $20,000, you'll get the rest after this is all over." I caught a glimpse of Torchwick giving the money to Junior.

The radio kicked on, tearing me away from the conversation. "Hey, you know that bad feeling I got? Well it looks like I'm right. A blond girl is heading this way on her motorcycle and it doesn't look like she's here to play."

"Alright just let me know if she keeps going. I don't want to be here when Grimm hits the fan."

A sigh rang out over the line, "That was the worst joke I've ever heard."

"Whatever, no it wasn't," I focused back on the conversation.

Junior let out a sigh, "Fine, but I can only lend you these four." Junior nodded and motioned for his men to join them. "Joenes, Burns, Stevens, and Woods. Your with Torchwick. If he tries to pull one over on you, leave him. Sound fair enough?"

"Oh by all means. Although I don't think that it'd be wise to pull one over on my pack mules while robbing a dust store." Torchwick let out a laugh and began to pour more beer into Juniors already empty glass.

The crowd had begun to shift, catching me off guard. "Shit," I mumbled, "This is why I hate crowds, it's like doing come crappy physics puzzle. Focusing on hearing alone takes a lot of concentration, so while you're basically engulfed in your senses, try and keep hidden in an ever changing crowd. Oh don't worry if you screw up, you'll just be sacrificed to some god of science or some shit. You know, the usual stuff."

"What are you talking about? Some god of science?" I could almost here Dante trying to hold back a laugh.

"Nothing, just trying to focus, but I'm having trouble with this stupid crowd." I felt the hair raise on the back of my neck. "Someone's watching me, can you tell who it is?"

"That would be the Malachite sisters, they're both eyeing you. Aaaannnnd Militia just leaned over to Melanie and whispered something in her ear. Yep… she's laughing now. Oh, now Militia is looking around. Melanie is still staring at you. Wait... Give it a sec, give it a sec. Aaaaannnnnd… You're good, they're both looking back at Torchwick. Wait now they're shifting their gaze over to the doors. Uh oh."

"What?" Everything went cold.

"So you remember that blond girl? Well….. She's in the building. She appears to be scanning the crowd, and now she's scanning the VIP section. She just overlooked the target. Okay, it appears that we're fine for now." I let out a breath that had been denied for too long. "Oh, wait. She's looking at Junior now… aaaannnnd she's walking over to him. Yep, this looks like trouble."

"You've gotta stop doing that. I don't know if it's the fact that it's all totally useless, or that your voice is super annoying, but you need to stop. I feel like I'm listening to one of Junior's mix tapes right about now, only a lot less screaming and dying." Laughter rang out over the line.

"Damn it felt good to laugh. But seriously, back to the mission. Torchwick is leaving and that blond is just within the danger zone." I looked over to see torchwick slowly fade out of focus and the blond girl shape in.

"I see the blond girl, but she hasn't noticed me yet. You think it'll be okay if I go and talk to the Malachites really quick?"

"You'll probably be fine as long as it's quick. Our target is getting antsy."

I let out a sigh, "Sometimes I like doing this, other times I dread it. This time is one of the second ones." I looked up to see the Malachite sisters waiting for me at the bar, both with a glass of scotch.

"Hey girls, I'm on a mission so this talk will be quick." I said sitting down at the bar.

"You wanna drink?" the bartender was new enough not to know me or my brother.

"No, he doesn't drink that much… or at all really." Melanie always liked to take special care whenever it came to me. I could never tell if it was because she wanted to be able to kill me or if she liked me. Knowing her, I'd say it was the first one.

"So what do you girls wanna talk about?" I took a peek at Junior who was on his way to meet the blond girl in the middle of the dance floor. Next I checked the target, he was getting ready to leave.

Militia spoke first raining down question after question. "What kind of mission are you on? Where's your brother? I thought we would have actually been able to the both of you this time." Militia uses a fake accent to throw her opponents off. Sometimes it works other times it just makes her sound funny. "Are you even listening to me?" Her eyes cut like daggers into my skin.

"What, we can't come and visit our favorite pair of twins? And we're on a mission to take out a CEO, you know, The one that's getting ready to leave, he was sitting in the VIP section. Yeah, that bastard is our target. So we're here to take him out, I'm the inside guy. My job was to get him to come outside with me so that I could take him out. But the way things are going, he'll probably just leave anyway. So Wrath is gonna snipe him instead. It'll be clean and simple."

"You still never answered my question. Where is he?" The glare she gave me just annoyed me even more, so I just gave in.

A yelp came from behind us. "He's across the street on the roof of the second building to the left. There you happy?"

"Yes" Militia gave me a little smile.

"Anything else you came here for?" Melanie asked with endearing eyes.

"Yes, we need to talk to Junior about something." Her eyes lost some luster. "And to see our favorite pair of twins, but we need to finish our job first."

Junior sailed over our heads and into the bar, bottles rained down. One knocking him out cold. I turned to see Junior's henchmen open fire and the CEO, along with everyone else, bolt for the door. "Wrath, things just got real."

"Already ahead of you." A second later there was a commotion right outside of the club. "Target's down, about to crash the party." I shook my head.

"Negative, goldilocks has gone rogue. It's better to get out and stay out unless you wanna change your name to Jessica"

"Alright fine, I'll meet you at the spot." The lines for the radio cut and the beat of the club took over.

I looked over to goldilocks then back to the Malachites. "Hey, can I ask you girls for a favor?" They both nodded in unison. "Look, I'm going to need some time to get Junior over here back on his feet. You think you could entertain the party crasher until then?"

"We'll see what we can do." Melanie looked at her sister and with a slight nod they made their way over to the trouble maker.

I sprinted over to the bar and with a single motion, vaulted the bar and somersaulted into a crouching position. "Let's see what i have to work with." I began scouting the different drinks. "Scotch, beer, vodka, liqueur, ale, come on i know you keep a special brew around here somewhere. Ahh ha! Here it is." I quickly pulled a jug from the top shelf. "The Club's Special. Wow, what a brilliant name. Could you be more open about this stuff?" I suck a quick peek at the raging battle going on. Militia was out of the fight for a bit and Melanie looked to be in need of some help.

I turned my attention back to Junior. "I hope this works." Uncapping the drink, I set it under Junior's nose and wafted into his face. Seconds later he shot up with his eyes watering.

"Ey, who opened the good stuff?!" A split second later the wave visually hit him. A Raging headache that couldn't be forgiven just because you hold your head. "Argh! What happened to me?!"

"Well you see, from what I can guess. That blond girl over there pretty much used you as a punching bag." I let out a chuckle as I capped the jug and placed it back on the shelf.

"Alright, now that you're up I can ask you a question or two. First, who is that girl and what have you done to her? Second, did she come here looking for you exactly?"

"I don't even know her let alone what I could have possibly done to her. And I'm not too sure, but she sure took a liking to me from the get go. So yeah, I'd say that I was her target." He attempted to get up but I stopped him.

"Hmm, alright. I think I have an idea.. For the most part." I turned to see Melanie get kicked in the face. "Alight, well. The sisters are down, so here's the plan. You need to go back out there and get punched in the face."

"What the hell kind of a plan is that?!" Junior got up in my face.

"I'm going to ask you a simple question. How much do you trust me?" Junior took a second.

"Probably as far as I can throw you." A smirk appeared across his face.

"That's good enough for me. So here's the plan. Go out there and get punched in the face, then we'll take care of the rest." I handed him his rocket launcher that I had found behind the bar.

"Wait, Wrath is here? How come I never saw him?" he unfolded the rocket launcher into the club than back into the rocket launcher. "Oh Susan, how I've missed you."

It was a little annoying to see him fawn over his weapon. Clearing my throat I continued, "that's simple. You don't play your trump card first, do you?" Junior scoffed as he jumped over the bar. The sisters started limping away, hoping not to draw the attention of miss blondy. "I'll get the sisters, you go have fun."

I waited until the sisters were just out of sight before I sprinted to them, checking back in time to see junior set of the first of a series or rockets. "Well that's a great way to pull aggro." I turned back to the sisters. "Girls, are either of you seriously hurt?" They shook their heads. "Good. Listen, I have a plan and thankfully, you've done your job. So we're gonna go meet Wrath at the rondevu point. Junior will be joining us shortly."

Militia's face lightened as soon as she heard this. "Is she gonna be there?" She gestured over to the blond.

"No, the plan is to lie to her and hopefully Junior won't die in the process." They both smiled as we hobbled out the back door of the club. Taking one last look as Junior flicked Susan into a club. "Good luck big man."

POV Change(Dante)

The CEO's bodyguards didn't even see it coming. Their boss drops, then like a bunch of wild animals, the mob of terrified people ran them over, not even looking back to see what they had done.

Once the last civilian was out of sight I slowly got up and scanned my surroundings. The mirror was exactly how I left it, and the only thing out of place were the bodies and the motorcycle. I climbed down the side of the building and quickly sank into the alleyway. I checked the streets to see if anyone was possibly lurking, but to much pleasure, no one was left.

"I love it when things go my way." Trekking across the street, I tossed the big guy on my shoulders first, then I proceeded to gather the bodies and carry them into the alleyway.

A large dumpster was just to my left, as if saying to me. "I've been waiting my entire life for this moment. USE ME! I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO BE APART OF A MURDER INVESTIGATION!" I disposed of the bodies and realized that i had forgotten the most important thing.

"The CEO, damn it! Out of everything I could have forgotten, I forgot him! Whatever, I'll just bring him home." I slowly peered out of the alleyway, scanning the streets again and checking the roofs and balconies of the other buildings. After deciding they were mostly clear, except a stray cat eating out of a dog bowl, I streaked out of the alleyway over to the CEO.

A bang sounded inside the building. I looked to my right and saw Militia fly into a pillar, completely destroying it and cracking the roof. "Hmm, Junior's not gonna be happy about that." I turned back to the CEO and continued to lift him over my shoulder, sprinting back to the safety of the darkness.

After disposing of the last body I quickly slunked to the nearest door, picking the lock and opening what appeared to be an old storage room for the building next door. I quickly lit a lamp and tidied the place up, placing a couple of wooden crates around a table and placing the lantern on the middle of the table. Within a heartbeat the lantern was out and I was out the door.

Things weren't going as well as I'd have hoped. I came back to the front window just in time to see Melanie get kicked in the face and Junior stand up from behind the bar. "Please don't tell me he came up with a plan. His plans always end up with someone getting hurt."

I saw Junior jump over the bar as Seraph slowly slid around the side, remaining in hiding until the time was right to retrieve the sisters and leave. Seconds later, my brother had the girls with him and was on his way out. I quickly flicked the radio on as Junior began firing his rocketlauncher. "Hey," I called into the earpiece, "what's the plan?"

"I get the girls out of here and you get Junior." Seraph's voice was beginning to tire.

"You okay? It sounds like you're about to kick the bucket." a laugh rang out from the other side.

"Oh you know. Four missions in the last week and only eight hours of sleep. Yeah, I'm fit as a fiddle. If the fiddle was actually a french horn coming out of a tuba." I could hear something slap hard on the other side and a creaking of a large metal door. "Sorry, Militia got a little angry with me there. She says she wants to talk to you, but that can wait. Right now we need to finish the mission."

"Okay, so quick question. How am I supposed to get junior if he's fighting his ex-girlfriend over there?" A trio of laughter was heard over the line.

"Okay (gasp) this is how you do it (gasp). First, I basically set him up to lose, so all you need to do is wait for him to fly through the front windows and then drag him to the safe room. We're going to be in the alleyway soon, so just worry about him.

"Alright, see you soon." I turned back toward the window just in time to see Junior rip out some of her hair. "Oh shit, if there's anything I've learned from watching humans it's that you don't touch a girls hair."

"Yang!? Yang?! Where are you?" a sweet young voice could be heard just a street or two down.

"Come on Junior, now's not the time to draw out the fight. You can enjoy quality time with her later, but right now, you need to get your face kicked in." A yell was heard seconds before Junior came crashing through the window.

"Wow, perfect timing." I quickly grabbed Junior and melded back into the alleyway, right before a young girl came around the corner calling the same thing.

"Yang?! Come out, come out, come out wherever you are!" she was dressed in a black and red dress with boots and a red cape. "Yang! What are you doing here?"

The girl in red ran up to the blond. For a second it looked like there were just friends, but the look in their eyes told me they were much more than friends, they were sisters. "It's kind of a long story." the blond girl, now came to be known as Yang, motioned toward her bike. "Let's talk on the way back."

"Okay." The young girl's smile was pure and full of uncultivated potential.

"By the way, Ruby, did you see anyone out here?" the young rose was now named.

"No. Why? Were you waiting for a boy?" her sister teased.

"No, just a new acquaintance. Anyway, let's go. This place gives me the creeps." the bike started and they both took off.

I threw junior over my shoulder and came back to the door, I knocked with four knocks, paused a second then knocked a fifth time. "Pride," the call rang out from inside and I opened the door. The malachites were already waiting on their respective crates, tending to the scrapes they had gotten. "So, how's junior?"

I set him down on the rug I had found. "Meh, he could be better." Seraph laughed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right about that. But after making a deal with Torchwick I felt he needed a little beating." Seraph stared into the lantern. "It's every day you make a deal with him."

"Yeah, but what was it about?" I found a sturdy enough crate and got comfortable.

"He just wanted to borrow some men, nothing to big. He's just robbing a dust store." Seraph looked up from the fire. "Anyway, the sisters have been dying to talk to us, so I think it's time for a little reunion."

After thirty minutes had passed Junior had woken up and we had told the sisters how we had gotten the job and how we had even gotten into vale. "Ey, anyone gonna tell me what happened?"

"Ahh, sleeping beard, care to join us?" Junior got up and found a box to sit on.

"You still haven't answered my question. Can you tell me what happened?" He pulled out a lighter and started up a stick.

"To put it bluntly, you got beat by your ex-girlfriend." Juniors face turned red with a mix of embarrassment and anger. "Nah i'm just kidding. Seraph set you up to lose a battle so that we could extract both you and the Malachites safely. Also, you did get punched, but that was Seraph's call not mine. He said you deserved it for making that deal with Torchwick."

"How'd you know about the deal?" Junior's face went stone cold.

"Please, it's us were talking about. You know you can't hide anything from us." Junior relaxed, seeming to accept my answer. "Anyway, we didn't come here to rescue you or reprimand you on your life choices, no matter how stupid they are. We came here because we need your skills and we have some information we think you'd kill for." Junior's eyes seem to sharpen as I said the last line.

"Seraph will tell you what we want in exchange for the information." I pulled out some glasses and purified water. "Go ahead Seraph, the stage is all set."

"Yeah yeah, enough with your stage talk." He picked up a glass and downed it. "So here's the thing, we need to get into beacon for some special intel we need. So, we want you to make us fake letters of acceptance so that we can gain access to said files. We understand this will take some time, but we're not in a rush. We just need it within a month. Do you understand?" Junior nodded in acceptance.

"Okay, it's a bit tricky, but two acceptance letters shouldn't be too hard to make. I just need to know the information you have for a trade." Junior downed his glass as the Malachites began to doze off on their crates.

"Well, this is business. So I need your word that you can get us these fakes." Seraph and Junior were now holding each other's gaze, neither dared to look away. After moments had passed Junior broke.

"Alright fine, I can get you them within the month, they may not be perfect, but they'll be pretty damn close." He picked up his glass and moved it toward me, I kindly refilled it.

"Alright, you know what happens if you break your word." Junior nodded. "Good, now as for the info. Someone said they spotted you in Atlas, but we know that couldn't have been you. So who else could that have been?" Junior's eyes widened for a second then relaxed again.

"Alright, that's the best info I've received in a long time. It was definitely worth the amount of time that it'll take to make the fakes." Junior stood up, offering his hand to Seraph, who took it with joy. "Your fakes should be ready within two weeks, so keep yourself busy until then."

"Will, do. Know anyone who needs something done?" junior picked up the sisters and started to carry them out.

"Hmm, I heard that the Schnee family might need some people in your….particular skill set. other than that, no I don't." The door slammed shut as he left me and my brother alone.

"Well looks like we'll have to give the Schnee's a call now won't we?" a smile spread across my face as my brother pulled out a special scroll.

"It's been awhile since we've got to work with them, I wonder what kind of job it'll be this time."


	3. Chapter 2 (The Shuffle Game)

Chapter 2 (The Shuffle Game)

 **POV Dante**

"25,000 lien up front plus five crates of the finest dust the Schnee company can offer, and all you have to do is watch over their precious princess on her way to Beacon. This is probably the easiest job we've ever received." I chuckled as we entered the port. "I mean, they could have probably just had their own men do it." There were five airships lined up from 1 to 5. Each being loaded and boarded by students hoping to get their chance at becoming a hunter/huntress. "Then again, they'd have to worry about their own people stealing their dust."

"And a single crate can go for over $50,000 lien. Which means that those bastards would be rich." Seraph had changed into his work clothes for this job, not that he would have needed to.

"Yeah, so what do they do? Hire one of the two people in the world who can't be taunted by trivial amounts of money. But sadly They only needed one of us. So since last time was my turn, it falls upon you. Which really sucks, because this is seriously going to be a shitty job." I stopped just short of the growing crowd. "It's time to split. See you at Beacon. Don't do anything stupid." I called as I walked away. "We don't want to be kicked out before we even get there."

"Whatever!" Seraph called back, "You're the one that needs to be careful."

I turned back to the loading bay for the shuttles. Five in total, each lined up and ready to be boarded. The security here was tight, which was to be expected, especially with a schnee there. I looked around trying to spot anything out of order. For the most part things were going smoothly. Everyone was being checked and placed in the respective lines.

"Hey!" a hollar came from behind. "Hey you, stop!" I seized up. ' _No way in hell someone could have already found out.'_ "Hey!" I turned to see a boy with yellow hair sprinting towards me. "You (gasp) dropped (wheeze) this." He held out the fake acceptance letter.

"Oh, I hadn't realized that I'd dropped this. Thanks." I flashed a quick smile as I ripped it out of his hands.

"You're welcome." He flashed a big innocent smile.

"Bye," turned and headed back to the checkpoint. ' _Better make sure this hasn't been screwed with.'_ I opened the letter to find my name printed neatly, Dante Hastur. ' _Whew, freaking kid could have ruined it'_ I tucked the letter back into my pocket only to see that I was next in line. "You've got to be kidding me." I sighed and handed it to the guard who was waiting.

"Looks like everything seems to be in order. You'll be on flight 3. Head over to that line over there to have your luggage ready for the loaders. Then, once they've taken your things, head on up into the ship."

The realization hit me in the gut. "Freaking crap, I forgot my luggage!" I turned to see my bag and suitcase hanging two feet in front of my face.

"You forgot these." the voice was familiar. "I figured you would have noticed when I tried to give you your acceptance letter, but I guess you didn't." The blond guy was grinning even bigger now.

"Thanks again," I took them from him gently, knowing that a sudden movement could set off some of the dust containers that were inside.

"Can you hurry it up, you're holding up the line." the security guard waved us by and began circulating the crowds again.

"So, looks like we're going to be on the same airship together." the boy stuck out his hand formally. "My name is Jaune, what's yours?"

I took his hand with a firm grip and grinned. "I'm Dante." His face contorted and twitched. "Sorry, haven't really tested my strength for a while now." I let go and wiped my hands on my jacket. "I kind of just figured that it wouldn't have hurt too much, sorry."

He took his hand back and held it to his chest. "It's fine, no harm no foul right?" He let out a sigh and gave his luggage to the loader. "Well, I have a few things to take care of. See you on the ship." he waved and took off towards airship 5.

"That's one strange kid." I turned and walked up the ramp. "I don't think things can get any weirder than they already are." But I knew it was going to get worse, a lot worse.

 **POV Change(Seraph)**

I peeked over my shoulder in time to see Dante make it into the airship. "Well things seem to be going good on his end."

"You! What do you think you're doing? My father isn't paying you to sit there and dawdle. Go inspect the ship or something." Weiss Schnee was an annoying little brat who thought everything was her playground. I mean, it's not like she was wrong. Her family could replace anything she broke, so money was not a problem.

"Yes, your majesty." I grinned as I turned to bow to her. "So you request for me to inspect the ship my lady?"

"Enough! I will not be mocked by the likes of you." Weiss stomped up to me. "Go inspect the ship, the crew, and then the shipment. Then, once we take off, you can have some time to yourself."

"As you wish," I said grinning. "If that is what you command then it will be done." I strode off to airship 6.

A sigh rang out from behind. "Why does my father always hire the creeps?"

In a few minutes I had inspected the ship from top to bottom, front to back and had found nothing. Even with the thermal sensing and extraordinary visual properties Ii was granted, the ship was completely clean. The crew had a couple of shady characters that I had to… put in line, but other than the two thieves, nothing was wrong. The dust had been inspected and relisted in the correct categories. Five cases of refined base element crystals, five more cases of rough secondary element crystals, another five cases of compound crystals, and the last five cases consisting of refined compound dust. The last cases contained what looked to be a new type of crystal containing the properties of multiple dusts in one, probably a prototype.

"Well I guess that's all of them. I'm guessing that they're going to be giving me the cases when I get there, or maybe I'll get lucky and I'll get to chose from the ones here." I looked around, 'why do I think out loud sometimes? Someone could hear me and then I'd have to kill them.' I looked around one last time, noting which crystal was placed where. 'There's probably some time left before we take off.'

A few minuted later I was back in the bay where airship 6 was held. "You! I told you to go and inspect everything! Why are you still here?" I turned to see Weiss marching over to me, finger waving in a mildly threatening way. "I swear, if I have to call my father then you'll be sorry."

"Look, lady. I already did-" within a split second Weiss had blindsided me, leaving a ringing in my ear and the bay in complete silence.

"You will call me ma'am or Miss Schnee. Am I clear?" Anger boiled inside me, not from her smacking me or from the humiliation of everything staring at you while you're getting yelled at, but from the complete and utter ignorance this girl portrayed.

'How could this girl be so stupid as to hit me? The man her father hired to keep her safe. I mean sure she's relatively strong compared to humans, but there's a reason he father hired me. Because compared to me, she's nothing but a helpless baby. Someone I could kill within ten minutes of practice.' I bit back my comments and slowly breathed out. "Miss Schnee. I finished the jobs you gave me and am currently doing as you told me to do. I'm relaxing." I could see the anger in her eyes.

"Hmph. I don't believe you!" her scroll rang. "One second." She took it out and answered it without hesitation. "Yes father?" her irritation was apparent in her tone. "It's nothing, it's just the man you hired is causing me issues." her face cringed. "Yes father, understood." She held out the scroll. "My father would like to have a word with you."

I took the scroll, watching as a grin spread across her face. "Yes?"

"I understand everything is going smoothly?" the tone of his voice made him seem almost robotic.

"Yes, no problems. The airship is secure both inside and out, including the cracks. There were two trouble makers but I promptly put them in their place, and as for the dust. I understand that it's a bit delicate." Weiss's face turned pale.

"Hmm, you are thorough. Just make sure that no one finds out about this new 'shipment' and you'll get a cut of each crate." I grinned at Weiss who was now irritably tapping her foot on the ground. "Oh and another thing, I understand you'll be enrolling in beacon too?"

"Yes sir, though I don't expect to be there for long." I began looking around, memorizing everyone's faces.

"Either way, I have a proposition for you. I need you to keep me updated on my daughter. Don't get involved with her necessarily, but keep an eye on her. Make sure she stays safe." A man was stalking around the outside of the airship, trying to look inconspicuous.

"Sir, with all do respect. I'm going because I have my own reasons. There are things that I need to do. So I must decline." I began walked towards the unsuspecting idiot.

"I see, well if you ever change your mind, you know how to contact me." The man stopped just short of the ramp, fumbling with something in his pockets.

"Will do." at a closer look I realized that it was a tracker. It would latch onto the airship and broadcast the exact location to anyone who was smart enough to be on the designated channel.

"Also, one last thing. Don't kill my daughter. I understand she's a pain in the ass sometimes, but don't let that get to you. I know that if you and your friend-.

"Brother," I interjected sneaking my way behind the man.

"Whatever, I know that if you two wanted to, you could kill any fool who was ignorant enough to, for lack of better words, piss you off. So here's a deal. You don't have to watch my daughter, but just don't killer her. Do this and for every year she stays alive there, I'll pay you $100,000 lien."

I grabbed the man by the collar and bashed his head against the airship, knocking him out cold. "You have a deal." I said grinning.

"Now hand the phone back to my daughter, i need to finish talking to her." I handed the phone back to Weiss as I dragged the man over toward an empty chair in the corner of the bay.

"What'd he say?" she called to me. "And what's with the guy?"

"Nothing you need to worry about." I called back to her. "And this poor fool decided to try and tag the airship with a tracker so that they can locate your airship without a problem.

"Oh, and why would they want to do that?" Weiss looked like she actually cared, but it was a facade. All she was really doing was testing me.

'Because you're stupid.' I stewed for a second before deciding to take the bait. "Because of your family and plus you're carrying valuable cargo." She gave a quizzical look, like 'the hell you talking about?' "Well, for one. The Schnee family is sending their daughter and heiress to Beacon so she can become both a better leader and a better fighter. The second reason? So that they can secretly sell the dust that you're packing with you to an organization that can refine it and duplicate it." Weiss's face grew stone hard. "I mean, sure. Let's go along with the blissful thought that they let you go to Beacon because you wanted to. And let's just assume that they'd let the heir to the company go off on some adventure so that she can live out their childhood in a peaceful and arrogant way, only so that she can come back and rule a company with an iron fist. Because that's totally believable. No, they made the decision to let you go to Beacon, a place where you maintain your sense of self and still become trained to not only fight grimm, but other people as well." I placed the man in the chair and tied him up using some spare rope.

"Wouldn't it make more sense that way? Let your daughter go willingly to a predesignated school where she'll be trained to fight for her life and become an iron ruler at the same time, and if she chooses a different school we'll just decline her." I found a piece of paper and started writing on it.

"And the shipment is something different. Since she's arrogant enough to believe that we'd just let her do what she wants, how about we let her do the dirty work? Let's have her take not the average two crates that we send with a shipment, but an additional three. So she thinks that we trust her enough, but in reality. She's just taking the two we already promised plus the additional set we want them to analyze. That way we can kill two birds with one stone. And then she can tell us what kind of dust she wants to take with her to Beacon and we'll generously supply her with two crates full. That way, not only do we look like caring parents, but we also handle any future needs." I had finished writing 'please do not touch' on the paper and continued to hang it around his neck.

"That sound about right?" I turned to face her. "Ahh shit."

Weiss had tears in her eyes as she stood with her head hanging. "Wow, I kind of had a suspicion about it all, but it really hurt to hear it out loud." She wiped her tears away and composed herself.

"Look I'm sorry." I took a step toward her but was waved away.

"Don't be." She breathed in and turned back to the airship. "That's my father for you. All work." she waked up the ramp. "Come on, it's time to go."

'I'm glad I took this job. If it were Dante, he would have told her everything.' "Sure," I smiled as I headed up the ramp. "So, what will we be doing?"

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **Nothing too big happens just meeting more of the characters. Don't forget we love you guys and would love to hear from you if you have any questions go ahead and ask.**


	4. Chapter 3 (Another day in the office)

**POV (Dante)**

The five airships rose into the sky, each randomly placed in a systematically chaotic formation. A few seconds later a sixth airship rose and swiftly glided into position on the outskirts of the formation.

"That's just sick." a girl walked over toward the window. "Using us for cover like that. What do they take us for, a bunch of expendables?" she looked over at me. "I guess you must be wondering what I'm talking about." Her eyes were like the bottom of a thick forest, a green that never sees light.

"Actually, I'm not as stupid as you might think." I chucked. "Then again, you don't seem too stupid yourself." I turned to face her.

"You're not huh? Then tell me, what was I talking about?" She gave a smug grin as she turned to look at me, her chocolate brown hair covering her right eye and flowing half just below her shoulder blades.

"Well, while it's not actually a bad tactic, I wouldn't use it. Using airships to transport goods is already risky, but it's safer than transporting them by ground." I turned back to face the window, the ports were gone now, somewhere in the unseen horizon. "It's simple, while the school uses a system that allows for a chaotic yet formulates formation, those bastards take advantage of it and use it to their gain."

"Oh," a smile spread across her face. "I guess you're not too stupid, but I'm guessing that's not all you know."

"Ha, that's insulting." I turned to her, realizing that she was reading me. "A certain family decided to transport some special products and a certain someone. So what better way than using others as camouflage? If you get the right ship right off the back than there's not problem, but what if you don't? You risk making a mistake and assuming you don't get the 16% that you were looking for, you kill a lot of innocent people. Then you continue to do so until you finally hit your target." She nodded in approval. "Not only that, but common mentality is that a ship carrying valuables with be on the inside of a formation to protect it from threats, so that's what they'd go for. Though, if you haven't already noticed, these people are smarter and have decided to stay in the back, the most dangerous place they can be." I turned back to face the ship. "It's only a good idea if your enemy is smart enough to guess the inside. If not, you'll die first."

"That's a good examination. However, It doesn't seem that the enemy is very smart or they would have attacked at the very beginning when we were taking off." She turned and rested her back on the railing.

"That's not necessarily true. It could be that they want to down the airship and take whatever's on board. So instead of attacking, they would have tracked it and brought it down once it split, but that's not going to happen." I joined her with leaning on the railing, only I didn't turn away.

"How can you be so sure? People are stupid, knowing them, they'll be dead in an hour or two. No sense in worrying about it really. It's not like it's any of your business. You're just here to get into Beacon and become a famed hunter." She laughed and turned back around, trying to decide what she liked more. Leaning on it or resting on it.

"For one thing, I know a certain someone on that flight, so to say that it's in capable hands, would be an understatement. Oh, and trust me. I know people can be stupid. They don't even know what morals they stand by, and some of them can't decide whether they want their backs to the rail, or to lean on them facing forward. Also, you don't know me or my business. Don't assume that I have no connection to that airship or that I'm some shallow prick who has no ambition or ulterior motive. You may be good looking, but I'm not one of your little playboys." I turned just in time to see the fire in her eyes disappear.

"Just because you trust someone with your life doesn't mean they won't turn on you or use you until they're done with you. No matter who you are or what you do, people are still the same. They're useless pieces of shit that don't care for anyone except themselves, and if they do than their naive pawns that deserve to be used. So I don't care what you say, you're wrong. If someone attacked right now than whoever's on that ship is dead. Don't deny a fact of life or you'll just be lying to yourself, and that's when you're no better than the Grimm." the girl had crossed the line.

I drew my dagger, Oathkeeper, from its sheath faster than she could blink. I placed it right on her gullet and moved close enough to feel her breath on my face. Whispering to her, I said "I don't think you understand what you've done here. So let me explain to you the gravity of the situation. If you call anyone here a Grimm, they'd attack you with little hesitation, unless they were truly pure hearted. Me, I'm not so pure. I'm the kind of person that would hunt you down and rip your head off for crossing me. So let this be your warning, piss me off again and I'll be the last thing you see." I could feel her slowly reach for her weapon on her hip. "I'd suggest you not, after all, you're friend over there is looking for you."

She stumbled over the railing and fell onto the glass that kept her from falling. "She's not my friend… how'd you know?" she blinked at me, shock and fear evident on her face.

"Because, if you remember correctly. I'm not stupid." I grinned and backed away, letting her regain her standing as her friend came over. "So who might you be?" I gave an encouraging smile.

"I'm Hestia." She smiled a radiating warmth. "And I see you've already met my friend Willow." she gestured to the girl who had finally regained her composure. "I'm sorry for what she did. I may not know what she did, but I can guarantee it was her fault."

"It's fine." I checked to see if anyone else noticed the little commotion I had caused.

"What the hell?! I turn around for like…. Five seconds and you disappear. Then when I find you, you're pissing off some guy." I turned to see Hestia almost yelling at Willow. "I don't care if you think you're some kind of assassin or something! You can't just pick a fight with anyone you want."

I thought about interjecting but decided to observe. Hestia was actually stunning to look at if you took time to notice. She wore a loose pair of grey pants, torn at the knees of evident use. A flame blue jacket zipped down just enough to show a bit of her cleavage. A blazing red tank top, and a set of old sneakers. The way she wore her clothes gave her a look of relaxation and complete power. The other, Willow, looked almost like a shadow compared to her.

She wore a dress… per say. The top of the dress was a close U, leaving everything to the imagination. It went to the ball of the shoulders then stopped, allowing a full range of motion with as much protection as possible. Then as if to hide anything that could possibly be in danger, a chainmail vest was imbedded into the dress. It went until it reached her waist, where a metal plated belt sat, not holding up her dress, but holding her weapons and.. Herbs. From the waist down it looked pretty simple. The dress went into a skirt that traveled down until right before the knees. There was no armor there, but the fabric indicated that it was strong and wouldn't tear. She then wore a pair of custom combat boots that could only be described as sandals.

"Hey, you in there?" I felt a knock on my head.

"Hey!" I complained, "What the hell?"

"Thought we'd lost you." Hestia let out a laugh as Willow stared me down. "Anyway, so what was your name again?"

I chewed on this question then looked her in the eyes. "Dante." She didn't look convinced. "What, don't like my answer?" 'How the heck are her eyes red? No wait, they're orange… no wait…'

"It's not that I don't like your answer, it's just that I don't believe you." Hestia, her face showed both doubt and intriguement. "You sound like you don't trust me."

"No offence, but why would I lie? I met you not even thirty minutes ago and you act like we're best friends." I couldn't help but notice her hair and the way it brought out her eyes.

"True, but you keep checking me out, so I was thinking that maybe you had something for me. Am I right?" She beamed at me, her smile warming what seemed to be the air around her.

"I would be lying if I said that you weren't beautiful. I'd also be lying to say that something stirs in me when I look at you. But the truth, I don't know that that feeling is. It could be interest, it could be uneasiness. I don't know yet." I could feel the air around me getting hotter, but it didn't bother me much.

"Wow, throwing it out there huh? Never knew there was someone so emotionless yet as enticing as you." her eyes flashed with a dark light. She stepped close enough so that I could feel her breath. Her eyes went from the soft outer red and inviting inner orange to a cold steel blend. "So here's the deal, don't go near my sister. I don't think you're strong, in fact, you look quite weak. So this is my advice to you. Stay away from her, she will rip you to shreds." Hestia smiled again and backed away. "So Willow, I have to introduce you to this guy I met, he's super weird."

"Alright fine, but when we get to Beacon, it's time to get serious" willow sighed. "I'm sick of you getting into trouble or meeting all of these people only for them to weigh us down."

"Oh don't worry, he seems really weak." Hestia turned and put her arm around Willows shoulder, guiding her the way she wanted. "His name is Jaune." they were heading away, toward the front of the ship. "From what I've seen, he's pretty much useless." The door opened and closed behind them.

"Well that was interesting," I turned and glanced around the room. 'Girls are so weird' A flame danced in my mind, Hestia's hair, a fiery red with blue tips, slowly glided through my mind. 'Gosh freaking dang it! I can't be dragged down by looks. She'll probably betray me like everyone else… Well not everyone, Seraph and the twins have never betrayed me. Plus, Junior won't betray us unless it better for business, but it might be in his best interest to keep his life.' "What the hell am I thinking?!" I almost screamed it. 'Shit!' I turned to see people giving me weird looks. 'I can't stay in here.'

I looked around trying to find the nearest exit, a door to the left. 'Better get out of here while I still can.' I calmly strode over to the door and slid through without catching more attention than I already should have.

The new room was smaller than the last. heading toward the middle of the ship, this room had no windows except on the doors. I sighed then looked around, "Well at least this room doesn't have any weirdo…...Damn it." toward the front were two people, a girl and a boy. The girl had red hair that was curled and carried a grenade launcher on her back. The boy had black hair tied back into a ponytail. The girl was obviously excited to be going to beacon. The boy, if he was even a little excited, didn't show a single lick of it.

"I'm so excited! I can't believe we finally get to become hunters! Oh my gosh! Ahhh! This is so amazing!" the girl was basically running circles around the boy. "Hey Ren! You think we'll be placed into groups of people?! Ohh I hope we get some really strong people." the girl almost seemed as if someone had given her concentrated coffee. "It's be so cool if we had a teammate that could breath fire, or control lightning! Ooooo, it's be so cool if we had someone who could control anything and move it around, you know, like telekinesis!"

"Ahh crap, another group of nutjobs," my voice didn't carry enough to know what i was saying, but it still brought unwanted attention.

"Hey Ren! He looks strong right?" she was pointing at me. "You think we'll get paired with him?" One second she was next to Ren, the next she was ten feet from me. "Hey! How are you?"

I looked around to see if anyone was next to me, 'no one, shit.' Playing dumb, I feigned a look of surprise and pointed to myself. "You mean me?"

"Yeah! How are you? What's your name? Where'd you come from? Have any friends?" That last one stung a little, but I didn't let it show. "Have any girlfriends? Are you going to Beacon? What kind of hunter are you going to be?"

"Nora, I think you're taking this a little too far. You don't even know his name." Ren was now beside her, holding her back from climbing all over me.

"Awww Ren, you always spoil all my fun." She began to feign a pout.

Ren turned toward me and bowed slightly. "I'm sorry about her, she's not very… controlled." Simply nodded. "Now if you excuse us, we have to get ready to arrive."

"But I wanna know about him! Come on." She almost whined the last part.

"Nora, you know how dangerous some people ca-"

I cut him off, "Actually, I don't mind telling her a bit about me." I don't know what overtook me, but I decided to tell them about myself. "First, I actually doing well for being locked in a floating cage. Second, My name is Dante. Third, that's a dangerous question that I still don't know the answer to. Fourth, yes, a proud few. Fifth, No, I'm single. Sixth, yes I am. And seventh, the kind that changes my future."

Nora gave a puzzling look, "Okay, that made no sense, but okay." She turned, pulling Ren with her. "Come on! We're almost there!"

Struggling against her pull, Ren made one last effort to be polite. "Thank you for putting up with us." Then they were gone.

"This place is filled with some.. Interesting people." I check the time on the clock just above the door I had entered. "It's about time to land, guess I'll get ready." I turned and headed back toward the back of the ship. "Lets just hope Seraph had it better than I did."

 **POV change (Seraph)**

"Well this has sucked more than I ever would have thought." I turned to look around the ship's bridge. "I mean, something could have happened that would have made this job actually worth it."

Weiss turned to look at me, "And what do you mean by that?"

"I mean that it would have been really easy for them to just start blasting the ships out of the air. Now that would have been interesting to see… or feel. Whichever one came first." I Stood up, taking one last look out the windows. "But I guess they just didn't have the guts to do it. Oh well, once I drop you off I can get paid and be on my way."

Weiss was now standing, "You really are shallow."

I straightened up, staring her in the eyes as I approached her. "I only took this job because I like to have connections that I can use to get information. So if transporting your sorry butt helps me with that then I'd gladly do it." I could feel everyone's eyes on me, but something about her stare felt strange. "Anyway, seeing as how my jobs almost done, I think I'll do one more round before we land."

The door closed behind me a few seconds later. I could hear Weiss ranting about me inside, but I didn't care. Something felt off about all of this. There's no way a group like this would only make one attempt at such a find. 'There has to be a catch.' I almost said it, but my lips didn't part, so it sounded like more of a whimper.

I looked around the hall, to the left was the barracks. A simple set of bunkbeds designed for quantity over quality. The flight had only lasted an hour or two so it wasn't going to be in use. To the right was the cargo bay, the most important part of this flight other than weiss herself.

"I guess I'll start with the cargo bay then head around the rest of the ship." I said, starting my search. Within a few minutes the entire ship had been searched, with the exception of the engine room and the barracks. "I'll head to the engine room first, at least then i can delay seeing her some more."

I opened the room to pure black. "I figured they'd do something else." within seconds I had switched to thermal sensing and began scanning the room. All of the lights were busted, which would explain why even the emergency lights were off. There were scratches and cuts everywhere along the walls and pipes, but a hole in the actual engine itself. "Shit, what the hell did they do?"

I entered the room and felt something distantly warm. I moved toward the source and realized it to be a body. Naked and unarmed. "Well this is gonna cause an uproar." I turned to check if anything else in the room was out of order. "I guess whatever caused this is somewhere on the ship." I left the room as it was and locked it. When someone finally checks on this, I don't want to be here.

After returning finishing my rounds I began to return to the bridge but stopped short of the door. The Barracks were the only place left on the ship that I hadn't checked. A sense of urgency and thrill breathed down my neck. I quickly whipped out my staff and approached the door. 'Knowing my luck, I'm going to be in one hell of a ride.' I quickly unlatched the door, careful not to make any sound.

I let out a few breaths before I tensed up, ready to strike. I slowly counted down, making sure no one else could hear, "Three… two… one." I flung the door open to something resembling a teenager's room.

Clothing was scattered all around, high and low. Every bunk was stipped of its sheet and pillow. The walls were lined with diagrams that made absolutely no freaking sense. "The hell is this? Some new kind of fangirl shit?" I continued to investigate the room. The ceiling was bare, but I found the sheets and pillows beneath the bunks. "Well okay, that solves one problem." I began to open the footlockers at the end of each bunk. One by one they came up empty, all the way until the last one. A piece of paper was taped to the lid of the locker.

I took the paper and unfolded it, revealing the note. "Long time no see." I looked around to see if anything else could help me find out who left the note. But after tearing the room apart, I only found one other note. "Enjoy the flight, I'll see you soon."

"Well this sucks." I turned and left the room, making sure to lock it behind me. "No one's getting out of there now. Well, unless they can blow a hole in the side of this ship and still manage to keep it flying." I turned and walked back into the bridge, surprised to find everyone else waiting for me.

"Finally, you're late." Weiss was flanked by two of her bodyguards. "We're about to land, so get your stuff and get off my ship." The rest of the men were now looking at me.

"Damn Princess, I didn't think you'd get so uptight about me searching your ship before we arrived." I took the nearest seat and made myself comfortable.

"I'm not, but we're about to land. And seeing as how I'm no longer in need of your assistance, I'd like you off my ship as soon as possible." She was clearly irritated at something, but I couldn't tell what it was.

"Alright fine, I'll get ready." I stood up, straightened my outfit, and sat back down. "Ready," I smirked.

"I told you to get your stuff and be ready to leave, not make yourself look half presentable." Anger flashed across her face and I couldn't help but making fun of her.

"Listen, everything I carried on is everything I have. I don't need eights suitcases full of dust and clothing. That's your shtick, I'm just here for a job." I met her eyes in a staredown.

"So you're saying that you're not going to stay at Beacon?" triumph and arrogance began to show on her face.

"Hmmm that has yet to be decided, i'll probably leave, especially because they can't really teach me anything new here. But back to the cargo, all I said is that everything I have is what I carried on. I never said i didn't have more stuff." She didn't believe me. "Listen," I gestured to the entire ship, "I'm not stupid enough to leave all my eggs in one basket, that's not my style. So while I came with you, I had my brother bring my cargo with him on another airship." I smirked at her was her arrogance faded. "Look, I'm not saying that I'm the smartest person in the world, but I am saying that I can plan ahead. Anyone in the right mind would know not to put everything on one ship, it's like sitting on a pile of gold and expecting not to get robbed."

The intercom blared, "Everyone hold on, we're about to land."

 **POV Change (Dante)**

"Well, that was fun," I trudged down the ramp, keeping an eye out for anyone that looked familiar. The blond girl and her little sister. 'Shit, what were their names…. Uhhh.' I snapped, "Yang and Ruby." They turned to look, but their gaze passed over me as if I had never existed. 'Damn that was close. I better get out of here and meet up with Seraph.'

I turned and leapt off the ramp, then, without drawing any attention to myself, I sprinted to where the luggage was being unloaded. Trees and bushes melded together as one color, then abruptly stopped at a clearing.

I didn't expect it to be in a open space, completely unguarded. People were talking off in the distance but no one was remotely near the luggage, well at least not yet. 'Good, at least this will be clean.' I walked calmly out toward the pile, finding our baggage easily. 'Something's not right.' I turned to see three distinguished men slowly making their way toward me. Ozpin, Qrow, and another man I didn't know. 'Run!' The voice inside me yelled in an almost deafening tone.

I didn't argue, these men were people I didn't want to fight...yet. I quickly snatched our luggage and sprinted back into the darkness where I knew I'd at least be able to run. I dove into the nearest greenery, completely hiding myself. I sighed then peered out of the bushes, checking to see if anyone had noticed me or cared enough to give chase. No one was coming. "That was a little too close."

"Yes, it was. You almost would have gotten off without a warning if I hadn't noticed you." a woman's voice rang out from above. "I don't know who you are, or what you were thinking, but we have protocols here. We do things for a reason, most of the time it's to keep our students safe. But nothing can be done if they don't listen to us." A shadow loomed over the bush, now blocking out the sun.

"And if your students don't feel safe following those.. Protocols?" I looked to see a blond woman standing on the near building, overlooking the pile.

"They get hurt or worse. That is all. Now get going, I won't be giving you another warning." I took this chance and ran, looking for anything that could be used as a landmark.

"The Tower" at Beacon emerged behind some buildings to my left. 'Ok, I know where i'm at, time to contact Seraph.' I pulled out my scroll and dialed him.

After ringing a few times an agitated voice answered the phone. "Took you long enough. Where are you at?" Weiss must have done something.

"I'm about six miles south of the tower." I had always had a good internal compass, so had Seraph. I guess you could say it was because we were… special. "I'll meet you at…" I looked around, a coffee shop, a bookstore, a dust store, and a weapons shop. "The weapons shop, I need to make an adjustment or two to Oblivion, and maybe they have something we can add to Oathkeeper."

"Alright, I'll be there as soon as I get done dealing with ." The scroll signaled the call was over.

"Welp, things seemed hell-a-dandy on his side." I strode over to the doors of the weapons shop, noting what the sign said. '21:00 - closing time' I checked my scroll, 15:00. "Hah, I have all the time in the world." I opened the door, but something caught my eye.

A faunus, she had black hair with her ears hidden with a bow. 'Clever move, but I'm not stupid enough to believe it.' She sat in the bookstore reading some book about ninjas. 'Well, I guess she is a little childish.' I continued into the store. "Ninjas aren't even that tough, or a big deal really."

A needle pricked at my neck. I jerked my head up and scanned carefully. 'Who could it be now?' There was no one in sight, except for the faunus. She was glaring at me through the window. 'Ahhhh, so she heard me. Well, I guess that's no surprise seeing as how she's a faunus.'

I nodded to her and ginned, "Those are some nice ears you have." She looked as if she was going to spit out a non existent drink. Quickly putting her book in her bag, she ran out of the store, forgetting to even pay. "Goodness, she's quite the odd one." I turned back to what I was doing.

A divider was laying on a shelf, right next to a amplifier and a concentrator. "Sweet, parts for dust weapons." I said, shaking my head, "Whatever happened to the good old upgrades."

"Mid aged weapon upgrades are on the back shelf." a faunus with soft looking bunny ears peaked around the corner. "Since most people don't use them anymore, we tend to keep any non-dust firing upgrades in the back." She eyed me, then my weapons. "We also have melee upgrades. They're toward the front."

"Thank you," something felt off about this girl. She seemed to be hiding something.

"Ummm is there anything I can help you with?" I hadn't realised I was staring.

"No, that's all the info I needed. Thank you." I continued toward the back, checking for a multi-chambered compressed capacitor. After passing a few shelves I found something that was a bit interesting. A compressed multi cylindered memory chamber connected to a dust compression chamber. After on the top was a dust receiver connected to a dust refiner. The dust refiner was then connected to an actualization chamber, that was rigged to a memory compressor. "Someone has put a lot of work into this. I mean, they're missing a few key components, but it looks good."

"Oh um!" The bunny girl came racing around the corner, "please don't stare. This is just a project i've been working on. It's nothing that deserves praise." She hastily lifted it into a familiar box with a handle.

"Is that a lunchbox?" She went from peach to sun kissed to scarlet. 'Wow, she is easy to read.' "So is that your weapon?" It was just a hunch, but i think it is.

The girl bowed her head in shame. "Yes," she mumbled.

I got the feeling that something happened, but i didn't want to go into it. "Would you like help? I mean, I got time to blow, so it's no problem for me."

Her head shot straight up. "You'd do that?! For me?!"

"Yeah, I don't see why not." I chuckled at her excitement.

"Well.. It's just that… I'm a faunus and all…" She went back to that shameful look.

"Don't sweat it. I'm a faunus too." She looked at me quizzically, "Though I may not look like it." She looked like she'd seen someone die. "Calm down. It isn't that big of a deal." I sighed, 'what have I gotten myself into.' I looked at that time. 'Hurry up and get here already, I don't to be stuck here forever.'

I looked at the bunny girl, "So what do you need?" She set the lunchbox back onto the shelf.

"I need a memory adaptor, a supercomputer processor, and an anti-dust compression and amplifier hybrid. The supercomputer is already on it's way. So I'm here to get lucky enough to find a memory adaptor. I don't think I'll find the compressor amplifier hybrid here." She let out a small smile that seemed to hold back a word of sadness.

"Well, I don't think they'll have the memory adaptor here, that seems more of a cybernetics thing. You'd probably be better off checking one of those shops, but just in case. I'll go ask about the memory adaptor for you." She smiled at me.

I turned and glided to the clerk's desk. "Hello," I called, no answer. "Is anyone here?" Still no answer. "Well great, this just got better." I looked around and saw no sign of security or life in general. "Here goes nothing." I jumped the desk and began going through the part records that were conveniently placed in plain sight. 'This is odd, why would these be out?'

Only a couple minutes had passed before I had gone through everything. 'Well this sucks, but I didn't think they would have had it anyway' I got the feeling to go and check in the back. 'Well it could be worth a shot, the owner might not have gotten to processing the part yet.' I slid over to the back door, checking one last time for anything that could be watching. 'Let's do this.'

The door creaked open into the pitch black. 'Ok, not creepy at all, but also no big problem.' I took a step into the dark, my eyes automatically switching to night vision. 'Damn I love myself.' Boxes were scattered everywhere, claw marks were all over, and blood was leading to the back corner. "Shit." I cautiously followed the blood, keeping an eye on my surroundings. "Yeah, this went from okay to shitty in about eighteen seconds." I could feel pinpricks in the back of my neck again. 'Keep your composure. One wrong move and you could be dead.' I continued to follow the blood. Over boxes, around the corner, and into a….cellar. "Ok this is bullshit. I'm not doing this. You, shithead in the shadows, get your retarded face down here. I'm going to wreck your tiny little brain." I turned to see a arachne launch from the rafters.

The eight legged freak was only a split second from hitting me. 'Shit, guess I don't have a choice.' I ducked, feeling the natural, and yet unnerving, feeling of the darkness. My eyesight amplified and my body became ridiculously light. I sliced up, cutting it in half. A second later a satisfying thud sounded in the room, but I couldn't even muster a single grain of happiness. 'Why did I resort to that? Even if it could have managed to attack me, it still wouldn't have done much.' I felt the sensation slowly fade as I watched my claws slowly retract, fading into nothing.

"Whatever, today was a weird day anyway." I turned back to the cellar. " I guess I don't really have a choice huh?" I check for the pinprick again but got nothing back. 'Seems I'm clear.' I lifted the latch to see a mutilated body, covered in bite marks and missing half of its head. The smell hit, "Holy shit!" I stepped back, "The hell is this?" After a second had passed, I checked again. The body was covered in bite marks, but not enough to kill, just enough to account for the blood i saw. 'Okay, then why is half the head gone.' I stepped into the divot, 'It's not even a cellar, it's a freaking foxhole.' I shook my head, 'Still doesn't make sense.' That's when I looked at the bottom of the door. "That little bastard. Seriously? Anyone could have survived an attack like that. Why'd you have to go and off yourself?"

I stepped out of the hole and closed it. 'Best not be here when someone finds out.' I turned to the door but something caught my eye. A spring powered rotary compass. 'Sweet, this is what I was looking for.' I grabbed it and noticed a memory adaptor on the left to the left. "Well i'll be damned. Today must be her lucky day."

I returned to the storefront but no one was there. The neither the bunny nor her weapon seemed to have ever been there. "Well that's just fantastic. Glad to know I could have avoided all of that." The compass weighed heavily in my pocket. 'Ok, well at least I gained something from it.'

 **POV Change (Seraph)**

Getting paid and getting out should have been easy, but with Weiss up my ass and Dante calling me in the middle of making the transaction, things had taken longer than needed. 'Well, at least we got paid for the job, we even got a bonus payment of Dust.' I looked around, alright he said something about a coffee shop, a weapon shop, a Dust shop, and a Bookstore. He also said something about six miles south of "The Tower." My internal compass told me I was in the right place. "Well, where the hell is he?"

"There you are!" I turned to see Dante sipping a coffee at a table. "I was wondering when you were going to show up." I looked around, 'not bad of a place,' "So we may need to leave real soon."

I eyed him suspiciously, "What do you mean real soon?" I strode over and sat down, taking a sip of the soda that had been clearly left for me.

"You see that weapons shop over there?" he gestured across the street.

"Yeah." The soda was flat and odd tasting, not my kind. "What's it got to do with anything? Did you find an upgrade?"

"Well for one, I found a spring powered rotary compass. I also found a memory adaptor that this bunny girl was looking for."

I spit the garbage brand soda everywhere, "Bunny girl?!"

Dante gave a mixed look of irritation and annoyance, "Yes, a bunny girl. Now let me finish my story." I gestured for him to continue. "Anyway, while helping this girl with her interesting weapon, I had to do a little snooping."

I scoffed, "There's no such thing as 'a little snooping' with us."

"Do you wanna hear the important part, or do you just wanna go see if for yourself?" I loved annoying Dante, but something told me this was serious.

"Alright, let's hear it." I threw the rest of my 'soda' into a nearby bush.

"When I went 'snooping' in the back where the storage was, I found a blood trail leading to a corpse." Dante wore a grim look on his face. "The store owner didn't die, he committed suicide." I gave him a quizzical look. "A adolescent Arachne got to him, bit him all over. I guess you could say it was him standing up one last time to the grimm." Dante sat back, downing the last of his coffee. "Depriving a Grimm the sensation of killing. It's a ballsy move, I'll give him that. But he could have killed it before the poison kicked in." He checked his watch. "Anyway, the important part is this. We both know the law about Arachne, so we better be on our toes."

I nodded in agreement, feeling little sorrow for the owner who couldn't make a last ditch effort. "If I'm not mistaken, Ozpin is giving a speech in an hour. So we better get going, don't you agree?"

"Actually, he's giving it in about forty-five minutes." We both stood up, "We better get going, we don't want people finding out about us being late." a smile appeared across Dante's face.

"It would put a black splash on our perfect record wouldn't it?" I grinned back. 'I think I'm going to enjoy this just as much as he will.'

"Yes, right you are. So, let's go." We turned and ran back to the tower. Leaving behind the dark secret that could destroy everything.

* * *

 **A.N.**

 **Well there's chapter 3 hope you enjoyed and would love for you to let us know how we did and what we can do to make it better.**


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